Speed wrench

ABSTRACT

AN OPEN ENDED DUAL SOCKET WRENCH HAVING THE SOCKETS DEFINED BY JAWS AT THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE WRENCH CONFIGURED SO THAT THE WRENCH WILL GRIP AN NUT WHEN TURNED IN ONE DIRECTION AND WILL ACT AS A RATCHET TURNING FREELY ABOUT THE NUT WHEN THE WRENCH IS TURNED IN ANOTHER DIRECTION. THE JAWS ARE FURTHER CONFIGURED SO THAT VARIOUS SIZES OF NUTS MAY BE ENGAGED BY THE JAWS FOR PURPOSES OF LOOSENING THE NUTS.

NOV. 16, 1971 EVANS 3,62Qfl? SPEED WRENCH Filed May 15, 1970 United States Patent O 3,620,107 SPEED WRENCH James P. Evans, 3233 SW. 23rd St., Oklahoma City, Okla. 73108 Filed May 13, 1970, Ser. No. 36,778 Int. Cl. B25b 13/00 US. Cl. 81-1251 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to open ended wrenches which grip the nut when turned in one direction, and are disengaged from the nut when the wrench is turned in the opposite direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART A great many types of wrench designs have hereinbefore been proposed for turning nuts in a way which reduces the applied power required to loosen the nut, and which make the wrench extremely flexible and adaptable in the sense of the types and sizes of nuts which may be engaged and loosened thereby. Several proposals have heretofore been made and have been patented which provided for open ended wrenches having sockets at the opposite ends of an elongated bar or shaft, with these sockets having a particular configuration as defined by the opposed fixed jaws of the wrench so that various sizes of nuts may be engaged in the sockets for loosening purposes, and so that the Wrench may be freely turned on the nuts in one direction in order to facilitate pivoting the wrench for loosening the nut while the wrench is located in a confined location in which limited space is available.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention provides an open ended wrench having sockets located at the opposite ends of a rigid shaft, and each defined by fixed jaws which are cut away at their boundaries adjacent the respective socket to facilitate a ratchet action by the wrench during loosening of a nut. By ratchet action is meant that the wrench functions to engage and loosen the nut when it is pivoted in one direction, but slips freely over the nut without engagement when pivoted in the opposite direction. Moreover, the fixed jaws defining the sockets of the wrench are configured so that a plurality of sizes of nuts may be engaged by each socket at each end of the wrench.

More specifically described, the wrench of the invention comprises an elongated shaft having generally circularly shaped plates at each end of this shaft, with each plate at each end of the shaft being cut away or recessed so as to form opposed jaws defining a socket in the respective circular plate. The facing edges of the jaws thus formed are configured so that a portion of the facing edge of each jaw is curved and another portion is sharply angled. At least one relatively sharp angle is defined by edges of the jaws at each socket.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a versatile, easily used and inexpensive open ended wrench.

Another object of the invention is to provide an open ice ended wrench having sockets at the opposite ends of a rigid shaft, which sockets, by their configuration, provide a ratchet action during the engagement and loosening of nuts by the use of the Wrench.

A further object of the invention is to provide an open ended wrench which has sockets provided at opposite ends thereof, which sockets are configured to facilitate engagement by each socket of a plurality of sizes of nuts.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a wrench constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wrench constructed in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, the wrench of the invention includes an elongated shaft 10 which is reinforced by a central thickened section 10a. The shaft 10 carries at its opposite ends, a pair of generally circularly shaped plates 12 and 14. The plates 12 and 14 are cut away to provide sockets designated generally by reference numerals 16 and 18. The socket 16 may be said to be defined by jaws 12a and 12b in the case of the circular plate 12, and by jaws 14a and 14b in the case of the circular plate 14. Th e jaw 12a has a configuration best illustrated in FIG. 1 in which there is a straight side 20 extending inwardly into the plate 12 at an angle of about 30 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 10. The jaw 12a further has a surface 22 extending substantially parallel to the surface 20 and joined thereto by a surface 21 which forms an angle of from about to about with each of the surfaces 20 and 22. At its end opposite the surface 21, the surface 22 intersects a surface 23 which extends at an angle of from about 110 to about with respect to the surface 22. The surface 23 then intersects a concave arcuate surface 24 formed substantially in alignment with the axis of the shaft 10 and constituting the deepest portion of the socket 16. The arcuate surface 24 intersects a straight surface 25 formed on the inner edge of the jaw 12b. The surface 25 then intersects a surface 26, forming therewith an angle of from about 120 to about The surface 26 then intersects an arcuate concave surface 27 formed at the inner periphery of the jaw 12b, and this arcuate concave surface intersects a relatively short surface 28 which extends insubstantial alignment with the surface 26. The ratios of the lengths of the surfaces are substantially as follows, taking the length of the surface 20 as the unit length:

Surface: Ratio 23 0.4 to 0.8 24 1 to 2 25 0.8 to 1.2 26 0.6 to 1 27 0.8 to l 5 28 0.2 to 0.6

At the inner peripheral edge of the jaw 14 which defines one side of the socket 18, this jaw has a surface 30 which extends inwardly in the plate 14 in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of the shaft 10. The surface 30 intersects an arcuate concave surface 32 which intersects a straight surface 34 at an angle of from about 120 to about 155. The surface 34 extends at an angle of about 30 with respect to the axis of the shaft and intersects a straight surface 36 at an angle of from about 110 to about 135. The straight surface 36 intersects a surface 38 to form an angle of from about 110 to about 150 which lies at the deepest portion of the socket 18. The surface 38 intersects a straight surface 40 at an angle of from about 110 to about 140, and the surface 40 extends substantially parallel to the surface 34. The surface 40 intersects a concave arcuate surface 42 which also intersects a straight surface 44 extending in substantial alignment with the surface 40.

The ratios of the lengths of the several surfaces which form the boundary of the socket 18 and the inner peripheral edges of the jaws 14a and 14b are as follows, taking the surface 36 as being of unit length:

Surface: Ratio 30 1 32 3 to 4 34 l to 1.5 36 3 to 6 38 3 to 6 40 1 to 3 42 1 to 3 44 2 to 4 The open ended wrench of the present invention may be utilized for turning and loosening nuts when the wrench 1s turned in one direction, or, if the wrench is turned over, by turning the wrench inthe opposite direction, the nuts will be tightened. When the reverse direction of rotation is imparted to the wrench, the jaws forming the open sockets 16 and 18 will slide over the edges of the nut and not grip or engage the nut. Thus, a ratchet action is obtained. Moreover, the configuration of the inner surfaces of the jaws which define the two sockets 16 and 18 are such that a plurality of sizes of nuts may be engaged by these jaws for tightening or loosening such nuts.

I claim:

1. A speed wrench comprising:

an elongated shaft; and

plates at opposite ends of the shaft each having sockets formed therein between opposed jaw portions of each plate, the jaw portions of one of said plates having internal peripheral surfaces extending at angles and relative distances to each other as follows:

a surface 20 originating at the edge of said one plate and extending inwardly in said plate at an angle of about 30 with respect to the longitudinal axis of said elongated shaft;

a surface 21 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 20 is from about 0.2 to 1 to about 0.5 to 1, said surface 21 extending at an angle of from about 90 to about 120 to said surface 20;

a surface 22 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 20 is from about 1 to 1 to about 1.2 to 1, said surface 22 extending at an angle of from about 90 to about 120 to said surface 21;

a surface 23 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 21 is from about 0.4 to 1 to about 0.8 to 1, said surface 23 extending at an angle of from about 110 to about 130 with respect to the surface 22;

a concave arcuate surface 24 having its central portion aligned with the longitudinal axis of said elongated shaft and having one of its ends intersecting the surface 23, said surface 24 having a length such that its ratio to the length of the surface 20 is from about 1 to 1 to about 2 to 1;

a straight surface 25 having one end intersecting one end of the concave arcuate surface 24, and having a length such that its ratio to the length 4 of surface 20 is from about 0.8 to 1 to about 1.2 to 1; a straight surface 26 intersecting surface 25 at an angle of from about to about 155 and having a length such that its ratio to the length of surface 20 is from about 0.6 to 1 to about 1 to 1; an arcuate concave surface 27 having one of its ends intersecting one end of the straight surface 26, and having a length such that its ratio to the length of surface 20 is from about 0.8 to 1 to about 1.5 to 1; and a straight surface 28 originating at the edge of said one plate and intersecting one end of said arcuate concave surface 27, and extending in substantially coplanar alignment with the surface 26, said surface 28 having a length such that its ratio to the length of the surface 20 is from about 0.2 to 1 to about 0.6 to 1.

2. A speed wrench as defined in claim 1 wherein the other of the plates at the opposite end of said shaft from said one plate is characterized in having its jaw portions including internal peripheral surfaces defining the socket in said other plate, with said internal peripheral surfaces extending at angles and relative lengths to each other as follows:

a surface 30 originating at the edge of said other plate and extending inwardly in said other plate in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of said elongated shaft;

an arcuate concave surface 32 having one end intersecting said straight surface 30, and having a length such that its ratio to thelength of said straight surface 30 is from about 3 to 1 to about 4 to 1;

a straight surface 34 having one end intersecting one end of said arcuate concave surface 32 and forming an angle with said arcuate concave surface of from about 120 to about 155, said straight surface 34 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 30 is from about 1 to 1 to about 1.5 to 1;

a straight surface 36 having one end intersecting one end of said surface 34 and forming an angle of from about 110 to about the length of said surface 36 being such that its ratio to the length of said surface 30 is from about 3 to 1 to about 6 to 1;

a straight surface 38 having one end intersecting one end of the surface 36 and forming an angle of from about 110 to about 150 with the surface 36, said surface 38 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 30 is from about 3 to 1 to about 6 to 1;

a straight surface 40 having one of its ends intersecting one end of the surface 38 and said surface 40 forming an angle of from about 110 to about with the surface 38, said surface 40 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 30 is from about 1 to 1 to about 3 to 1;

an arcuate concave surface 42 having one of ItS CIIdS intersecting one end of the surface 40, and having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 30 is from about 1 to 1 to about 3 to 1; and

a straight surface 44 in substantial alignment with the surface 40 and having one of its ends intersecting one end of said arcuate concave surface 42, said straight surface 44 having a length such that its ratio to the length of said surface 30 is from about 2 to 1 to about 4 to 1.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JAMES L. JONES, 111., Primary Examiner 

